arrows being all expended, and having arrived at a part of the forest, where a high cliff prevented their further retreat, Sir William de Lorayne advanced upon them with nearly three hundred men, while Sir Gerald Heron and young Butler remained without the forest, in order to prevent the escape of any of the fugitives. Wallace had just time to make a short animating address to his companions; and placing them so as to have the advantage of the cliff as a protection to their rear, they stood prepared for the onslaught. The English were astonished to find themselves opposed to so small a number of Scots as now appeared waiting their attack, and conceived they would have little else to do than to surround the party and take them prisoners. The determined valour, however, with which they received and repulsed their repeated charges, convinced them that the toils of the day were not yet over. Wallace, who was always a tower of strength to his friends in the hour of danger, displayed, on this occasion, more than his usual heroism. While the strength which nerved his resistless arm excited the greatest enthusiasm among his followers, and spread horror and dismay through the ranks of their enemies, Sir William de Lorayne still urged his men on to the conflict, and they as quickly receded, when they found themselves opposed to that champion of whose strength and exploits they had heard so many appalling accounts. The battle, however, still continued to rage with unabated fury on both sides;--the English, eager to revenge the slaughter of their countrymen, and the Scots, frantic with the wrongs they had already sustained, determined to conquer or die on the spot. At this time their dauntless chief burst like a thunderbolt amidst the thickest of the English; and, having scattered them before him, ascended a little hillock behind which they had retreated, and applying his bugle-horn to his mouth, made the woodlands resound with a bold and animating war-note. The English leader, conceiving that this was done in derision, rallied his forces, and again advanced to the attack. Wallace and his few hardy veterans were soon environed by their enraged assailants, and the battle commenced anew with all the rancour of their former animosities. Though the Scots fought with the most inflexible obstinacy, yet some of them, from the severity of their wounds, appeared unable to continue much longer the unequal contest; but at this critical juncture, Stephen of Ireland, and his party, in obedience to the signal sounded by their chief, suddenly emerged from the brush-wood, and fell upon the rear of the enemy with determined ferocity. Surprised and dismayed at so unexpected an attack, the English fled in the greatest confusion, followed by the victors, who continued the pursuit, making dreadful carnage among them, till they reached the boundary of the forest. Here the terrified fugitives were met by Sir John Butler, at the head of five hundred men. This